The Meaning of Faith
by WintersBlueRaven
Summary: DISCONTINED


**Disclaimer:** I do not own any NWN2 characters, plot or dialogue, only Ashnara and her past.

**AN:** Ah, I must apologies first as it seems Chapter 6 of **'Two Sides of a Coin'** is going to take a **lot** longer than I originally planned. However, this short circlet should safice until I submit the next chapter. This circlet is based around the Trial in Act 2 of the OC. Ashnara is proving to be as mulish and fickle as a blackguard should be, her character is quite the challenge to get right, and I'm the one who created her!?

Anyway, please enjoy this circlet, as it is a offering to those who want the next chapter sooner rather than later, please don't hate me for the delay! **--WBR**

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_**Part I: The Trial**_

_You think it can't get any worse? Well, don't look behind you!_

-

She calmed her breathing and released a long sigh, running calloused hands through the wild black tangle she called hair.

The mountain of evidence now sat within the hands of the Neverwinter Court, and she for one was pleased to see the back of it. After weeks of hunting through sludge and thick bracken in the wilderness and around the salty aired Port Llast, Ashnara and her companions had returned to the city with laden packs. Not to mention the round of black eyes for Bishop after that half elf ranger had finished with him, much to Ashnara and Shandra's hilarity.

But those thoughts were now stripped from her, rather like her beloved greatsword and darkplate. She felt her lip quiver into a pout as Neeshka passed them over to Shandra. The fiendling gave the blackguard a wicked grin, making Ashnara feel even more vulnerable standing there in her underclothes.

"Don't worry, Ash! You'll get them back…eventually" the elf's eyes narrowed at the tiefling as she dug through the stuff she had bought at market under Sand's instruction of "Make the girl look at least a little presentable". The retort had been met with a barrage of slander from the Blackguard, and ending with a childish petted lip and a grumble of "I'm a blackguard, for me the words 'innocent' and 'sweet' don't ever meet in the same sentence". He had parted from them there, a smug look upon his pale face, a smirk that spoke volumes of his victory.

Shivering slightly, the elf cast a glance at herself in the mirror. She may have been small in height, but her broad shoulders and strong legs made up for it. A grin erupted across her lips as she remembered Khelgar's comments months back at Fort Locke; "Yer built like a true fighter lass, dinna let anyone tell ya otherwise"

Yet, as Neeshka advanced with that daunting look concoction of black eye paint, Ashnara felt all haughtiness and bravado fall way and prayed desperately to her Lord to be saved. But it seemed he was laughing it up as much as Shandra in the chair.

A shrill shriek filled the Sunken Flagon as the blackguard met her match…

-

Straightening his robes for the umpteenth time, Sand shot another impatient glance towards the Court's entrance. As if on cue, Torio Raven strode in, her usual air of superiority hung as strong as that blasted stench she called perfume. The moon-elf fought the urge to gag and settled on shooting her an icy glare. She merely smiled provocatively before taking her place before her platform, setting a pile of neatly arranged notes down upon the wood.

A blur of golden hair caught Sand's attention and the wizard found Shandra arriving on the scene, look very neat in her dark brown dress. He cocked a brow at her and she smirked slightly, mouthing 'you won't be disappointed'. Above them, on the viewing balcony, Neeshka took her seat between Khelgar and an anxious Elanee. The druid turned to her only to be forestalled by the tiefling's wicked smile and hand.

"Everything is under control, keep your eye on Sir Tin-can and the ranger and you'll see what I mean" the twinkle in the fiendling's eye did anything but sooth the poor wood-elf's nerves – now she feared for her kin's dignity as well as her life. As the court went into session and the caller introduced the judge, a silence fell about the hall.

"Lord Nasher Alagondar, Defender of Neverwinter and Reverend Judge Oleff Uskar, Lord Justiciar of Tyr" the man's voice rang out and dispelled the silence that hung in the air, replacing it was a business-like aura. Lord Nasher sat with Sir Nevalle on one side, the judge on his other, his face grim. Reluctance in his brown eyes as well as his voice he gestured a hand to the court entrance.

"Bring in the accused"

Plated footfalls sounded along the stone floors as two guards flanked the elf. Ashnara was struggling to keep her face straight and eyes ahead of her. She felt naked – not that the claret creation the tiefling had bundled her up in helped much – and small, emotions that she'd remembered all to well from that horrendous night back in West Harbor. Thankful that her black hair curved in a protective curtain to shield her from the eyes of the witnesses, Ashnara halted whilst the guards took their places by the doors and bowed her head slightly in respect toward Lord Nasher. He nodded his head in the manner so what similar to that of Georg and she quickly strode to Sand's side.

She felt the wizard's appraising eyes on her and felt an instinctive shiver run up her spine, not to mention the barely contained banter that was taking place amongst her companions behind them, all thanks to that fiendling. The crowds watching began to mutter and eye her suspiciously, making the elf even more uncomfortable.

"Reverend Judge, let the trail commence" Nasher's voice echoed out and all fell silent again.

"We are gathered here to determine the truth of the crime committed in the small village of Ember... its people slaughtered to the last man, woman, and child. Under Tyr's guidance shall the truth of this matter be revealed - and justice delivered. Is the accuser here?"

Torio's eyes lit up in their darken rings of black paint, ready to play her part in Luskan's bloody charade, "I speak for those the accused slaughtered at Ember - and I am here to see that justice is carried out this day" she locked eyes with Ashnara and smirked slightly. The blackguard left her face blank but poured her malice and hatred into those sepia pools and let them burn the Ambassador.

"And is the accused here? And her defender?" Uskar enquired. The elf felt Sand straighten beside her, causing her to snap her attention forwards. They had discussed how she should react within the court, within Torio's playground, so many time that their conversation still played back to her even now. _"Play the diplomatic card, Ashnara. Bane's hand cannot save you under Tyr watch"_

"Indeed I am, Reverend Judge, however unjust this trial is" she bowed her head slightly as he addressed them, her stomach all but revolted at her tone and pathetic speech. It seemed she was the only one.

"The dead of Ember speak strongly enough of your guilt. How you can simply stand there after what you've done…" Ashnara clenched the wood of the podium and it wasn't long before her knuckles turned white.

_Bare it, dark one_. Bane's voice spoke as if into her ear, blowing a breeze of deadly confidence into his faithful. Adorning a shocked, dismayed face, the blackguard tried Torio at her own game.

"Ambassador, we have barely begun, and yet you are already throwing accusations as if you are above our judge. Do you forget we stand here to see justice?" the Luskan visible took the hit and reigned in a glare.

"The accused is correct, Ambassador - this trial has barely begun" the judge scolded, only to be backed up by Lord Nasher himself.

"Forgive me, Reverend Judge. I am afraid my conviction got the better of me" she spoke in deceptive respect, her eyes slicing the blackguard to pieces as she spoke. Sand brushed the side of the blackguard's wrist with his robe, lowering his head slightly so only Ashnara could hear his words.

"Oh, this will be fun. Well said, by the way, nothing like a simple turn of phrase to make Torio look the fool" he murmured, his mouth crook up at the corners at his amusement and received a wistful smile as he pulled away, "We are present, and eager to bring the truth of this matter into Tyr's sight, Reverend Judge"

As Uskar muttered on about something or other, Ashnara had shortened out when Tyr's name had been mention, she glance back at the Ambassador. She wasn't the matron of all beauty in fact she reminded the blackguard of that pompous half elf that Bevil and her had stumbled across in the Mere in their youth; sloping eyes acute and cunning, conceited stance and expression. She now knew one reason why Sand's hackles raised every time she was mentioned.

The woman was a bloody snake.

-

_Calm thoughts, happy thoughts, kill the ambassador thoughts_, Ashnara tried desperately not to explode across the court room and tear the woman's head clean off her shoulders. She heard Sand groan quietly behind her and muttered an almost inaudible, "Hells, this isn't good…"

"Come now, do you deny your profession, deny your loyalty to your 'Dark Lord'? Or is it that you cowering away from the betrayal of Tyr?" the Ambassador smirked slightly as she saw the rage burning within those sepia eyes, her taunts and mocking words seemingly peeling away at the blackguard's resolve. Ashnara struggled to contain herself, _"How dare she…two-faced, Balor-licking bitch!"_

"Reverend Judge, I don't see how this can be relevant to this case? I-" Sand began, trying to save their case before it sank into unreachable depths. Yet, Torio once again leapt at the chance to nip at the elf's heels.

"So quick to jump to a murderer's defence?" she took a step back, a look of false disbelief and shock upon her snake like features, "Why don't you let the woman speak for herself. May I Reverend Judge?"

Uskar watched her a moment, eyeing the unspoken hatred between Torio and Sand with caution, "You…may proceed Ambassador"

Sauntering away from her podium, her horrendous multicoloured skirts billowing in her wake, Torio took claim in the centre of the court, her slanted eyes bearing into the elf with increasing intensity, "You are a blackguard, yes?" she asked simply, yet the question sent a chill upon all those in the audience.

Ashnara glowered, her shoulder ridged, "Yes"

A chorus of low muttering sounded around the room, and the blackguard felt as if her fate was already sealed, that noose fitting snugly around her neck. She felt the rounds of fearful, judging eyes on her – she didn't blame them, she cursed them.

Torio's face grew more smug by the second as she began to slowly pace around the podium Ashnara stood behind, her movements resembling that of a prowling predator circling a wounded deer, bleeding and raw from the fight, its final breaths only seconds away.

"You serve the dead god, Bane? Tell me, what does he stand for again?"

Her lip curled up slightly as she said his name so carelessly, but as she caught a certain tiefling's wide eyes, her head shaking ever so slightly in warning, "His power extends over…hatred, strife and tyranny" she forced her voice to stay as stable as possible, despite the growing urge to growl.

"I see…and who did he sign the unholy pack with within the Dead Three?" Ashnara flinched as she heard Sand ihaled sharply, her heart sinking as she dug herself into her own grave…she would have to say that dreaded name, "We're waiting"

"Bane…Bane aligned himself with Myrkul….and Bhaal"

The audience broke out in a burst of outraged gabbling, their faces she dared not look into as the lid on her temper was far from sealed. It took all she had to push back the Rage that forced its way through her veins and up into her heart. Torio smiled smugly, watching the blackguard's shoulders slump with defeat, something she relished. Her eyes flickering to Sand in gloating, smirking even more when him gaze at Ashnara with a solemn expression. With a flourish of her hand, she twirled around to the already incensed audience, her acting mesmerising them even further.

"Bhaal, she says…the God of Murder? Now why a 'loyal squire' of Neverwinter would associate with a god that entwined himself with such a being? Doesn't that not speak volumes of her character?" those words slipped effortlessly from the woman's tongue, her eyes sizzling with her performance as they landed back upon the silent blackguard, "Does it not explain why this 'Squire' burned and murdered an entire village of innocent people…to **appease** her god"

Some of the audience got to their feet at this, the outrage flowing down in freezing waves over the blackguard. Her fists clenched even tighter on the wooden podium, until a loud crack of the wood resounded around the courtroom, causing all to fall silent.

"What would Bane want from Ember?" she said quietly, her voice dangerously low as she locked her eyes upon the Ambassador and burned holes as deep as the Abyss into her nauseous outfit, "Why would he want to kill measly villagers?!" she fell silent before loosening her grip on the wood, revealing two groves were her hands hand been.

"There was a village, on the edge of the Mere of Dead Men, called West Harbor. My home and birthplace" the blackguard's eyes closed and she inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the stale courtroom air.

"Three months ago, I was forced to watch it burn…after a githyanki attack. I lost a childhood friend of mine, a blood-sister you could say. Watched my home burned to the ground, watched as the fields in which I trained as a member of the militia smouldered in the blaze" the audience grew deathly still, she could sense the soberness that now filled the air as she retold her story, "I was filled with such regret, watching families loose those dearest to them…watching as children came to realise their parents had died protecting them from the onslaught…tears in their eyes, wordless horror"

She turned her attention back to Torio, her eyes burning like the fires that had engulfed West Harbor those many nights before.

"Now tell me, why in the Nine Hells would I put anyone through that…blackguard or not. I know what it is to lose someone dear and close to you, the ripping sensation as your heartbreaks. So why in blazes would I subject a whole village to such torture…" her words began to falter as she struggled to reign in her temper and emotions, thankful when Sand latched onto her plan and finished what she could not.

"How you can even accuse her of this, Ambassador, I can not even begin to comprehend. Are you really that heartless, is Luskan really that ruthless? I think Neverwinter already knows the answer as it has already felt Luskan's ire once before"

The courtroom once again began to buzz, this time the audience cast reproachful glances at the Luskan woman. She fumbled slightly at this drastic change and Uskar gestured for Ashnara to return to Sand's side.

She met his impressed gaze, yet her eyes were void and empty, and merely nodded in his direction as she stood solemnly waiting for the verdict. The wizard sighed, before watching smugly as Torio strained to retain her dignity.

"_Well, at least we have won this battle…hook, line and sinker"_

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**_Review please!_**


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